8+ Termination Agreement Samples – PDF
In every business, an employer would want to make it clear to their employees that they can be terminated at any given time should they break any important company policies, fail to meet the performance standards of the business, or if they do anything that could potentially harm other employees or the entirety of the company.
However, employees also want to make sure that they let these employees know that they’ll only be terminated in the event that there’s a valid reason to do so. To ensure that these employees are able to fully understand the terms of termination within your company, this would mean that you’re going to have to come up with a termination agreement and this article will teach you how to create one.
Agreement Template Bundle
Termination of Contract Agreement Template
Lease Termination Agreement Template
Mutual Lease Termination Agreement Template
Commercial Lease Termination Agreement Template
Termination of Distribution Agreement Template
Restaurant Termination of Distribution Agreement Template
Sample Termination Agreement Form
leaplaw.com
Mutual Agreement Termination Letter
sec.gov
What Your Termination Agreement Should Contain
When you start drafting the employee termination agreement, there are a ton of things that you’re going to have to think about to ensure that the terms of termination are fair. Because no employee would want to sign a termination agreement that they’ll see is too unreasonable. Also, you have to make sure that when you’re creating this agreement, you’re as detailed as possible so that you can point out that you and your company have every right to terminate an employee when the situation calls for it. So when you start creating your termination agreement, you’re going to have to make sure that the following are within the document:
1. The Basic Information
As you’re coming up with the termination agreement, you have to be specific with as to who the agreement is meant for. This would mean that you’ll need to place the employee’s complete name into the document, the name of the company that he/she will be employed into, the job title that the employee will be taking up, and possibly even his/her job description. The reason for doing this is to ensure that it clearly shows that it’s the very same employee who signed the agreement and he/she has read the terms. Also, you’ll want to place in the date as to when it was made and signed just for legal verification. Make sure that there isn’t a single error when it comes to the basic information that you’re going to place. You may also see sample agreement templates.
2. Valid Reasons for Termination
You just can’t terminate an employee simply because you don’t like him/her. You’re going to need a valid reason for you to be able to do that. When you’re drafting the reasons as to when it’s acceptable for the employee to be terminated, you’re going to have to be as specific as possible. Because if you miss out on even one violation or problem that the employee might cause during agreement drafting, then that employee may simply state that your agreement form does not specify that he/she will be punished for the action he/she has done. To ensure that you’re able to terminate an employee for causing repeated problems or making a huge on in your company, then here are some examples of valid reasons for termination.
- Employee Incompetence. Employee performance is always going to be vital in a business. An employee who’s able to do his/her job well can only mean bigger chances of success for the business. So let’s say that you have an employee who has been underperforming. You offer him/her a chance by making the employee attend training sessions that should improve his/her skills and performance. But even after the training, the employee continues to go below company expectations. So when it comes down to it, you’ll have the right to terminate the employee if he/she doesn’t improve even after multiple disciplinary actions.
- Breaking Company Policies. The reason as to why company policies exist is so that employees are able to understand what they are able to do as well as what they are prevented from doing to ensure the protection of the company as well as their own. So in the event that an employee actually decides to break these policies, you’ll have the right to terminate the employee. Just make sure that you only terminate the employee if the severity of the violation calls for it.
- Insubordination. You want your company to foster a healthy and respectful culture so that employees are able to work together in an organized and uninformed manner. So if any employee decides to show disrespect or dishonesty to any employee that’s of higher status than him/her or decides to withhold important company information that’s meant to be shared with all other employees, then you have every right to terminate that employee on the spot.
- Attendance Issues. When a candidate for employment goes through the employment contract, there’s always a section wherein it shows the days in which he/she is supposed to come into the office and work for the company. So in the event that an employee decides to not to show up to work as well as not having valid excuses for his/her absences, then you may be able to terminate the employee. If you would like to learn as to the number of absences or tardiness would result in the employee being terminated, then it’s best that you go through your company’s attendance policy; ensuring that you’re firing the employee only when he/she has gone beyond the limits of the policy.
- Theft. This should be pretty obvious as you don’t exactly want an employee who steals property to work for you and your company. So if one of your employees were to create an incident report stating that he/she has spotted a co-worker taking company property or personal belongings of others or if you’ve caught an employee in the act of theft, then you’ll have every right to terminate that employee. Just make sure that if you gain the information through the sample report, you do a thorough investigation first before making the decision as to whether or not you should terminate the accused.
- Criminal Activity in the Workplace. If it’s not stealing company property, then it’s something else. You have the right to terminate an employee in the event that he/she does something that could threaten the very existence of your business. For example, one of your employees has been caught in sharing vital company information with one of your competitors. If you’ve had this employee sign a non-compete agreement, then there shouldn’t be any problems in letting that employee know that she has violated the agreement and as a result, will be terminated immediately.
- Physical Violence or Threats. If an employee were to hurt another or if the employee were to make threats on a co-workers life, then you may terminate the employee. However, you have to make sure that you do a thorough investigation to ensure that the accused actually did commit the violation, otherwise you’ll just receive a lawsuit stating that you’re fired an employee for unfair reasons. Also, the employee who has committed these acts may be charged with assault by the victim or face any charges that suit the situation should the victim or the company wish to do so.
- Acts of Harassment and Discrimination. You want to point out that your company is not one that will tolerate any acts that would put down an employee or that would make anyone in the company feel uncomfortable. While the decision of termination will depend on the severity of the act, you’ll have to pinpoint which of these will lead to immediate termination. For example, you can say that anyone caught in the act of sexually harassing a co-worker or even a client of the company will be terminated as soon as possible. You may also see agreement letter templates.
3. Return of Company Property
You’ll definitely want to have this in the termination agreement as you do not want the terminated employee to walk away with anything that belongs to your company. To create a statement that any property that the company owns that is in the possession of the employee must be returned as soon as possible should the employee be terminated. Be very clear about this because, in the event that the employee still has hold of company property, there’s always a chance that he/she still has access to vital company secrets, and that’s something you want to prevent. So what you can do is a state that the employee must provide a list of all company property that’s under his/her possession each time he/she is required or requests to make use of any of them. f you would like, you can be specific by making a statement such as “these include, but are not limited to, the following…” where you then provide multiple examples of the different types of company property that may be in the possession of the employee. You may also like business agreement templates.
4. Statements Regarding Vacation Time and the Employee’s Final Pay
If the employee has accrued any vacation time, then that would mean that you’re going to have to pay for the any of the time that the employee has accrued. However, the law and the employee’s position may change this. If the employee is just working part-time or was simply hired as a contractor, then you don’t necessarily have to pay for any unused vacation time. Again, go through your country’s laws just to be sure. You may also see sample employment agreement templates.
State that the employee will be paid what he/she is owed by the company. Also, state the methods as to how the employee will receive his/her final pay as well as the amount that he/she will receive. You may also see employee agreement templates.
If you would like to learn more on how to create a termination agreement or anything related to this particular topic, then all you have to do is go through any of our available articles on our site until you are able to gather the information that will benefit you and your business. You may also see employment agreement templates.
More in Agreements
